Support host selection of Lonicera japonica and its interaction with different environmental and biotic factors in Cameron Park, Waco, Texas.

Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), an exotic woody vine, has naturalized in riparian forests in central Texas. The objective of this study was to quantify its existence pattern associated with different environmental and biotic factors in Cameron Park, Waco, Texas. Eighty-eight 8 × 4 meter plots were established along twelve trails in the area and treatment experiments were taken during May to August 2007. Through cumulative ordinal regression analysis, I found that cover of L. japonica was only significantly related to native vine cover and only the treatment of clearing both native and exotic vines showed a significant effect. As for the support host, its height class is strongly correlated with the climbing behavior of L. japonica. These results suggested that biotic factors play a more important role in its invasion and support hosts with low to medium height contribute to its spread from understory to canopy layer of the forest, whereas high tree hosts carry more stems to a longer distance in the canopy.